Antimony

China is the world's largest producer and exporter of antimony, accounting for 80 percent of the world's total. China's annual production capacity is approximately 80,000 tons. The Chinese company, which operates the single largest primary antimony mine in the world, is Hunan Nonferrous Metals, which is listed on the Hong Kong Exchange as Hunan Nonferrous Metals Corporation Ltd (HKG:2626).

The metal's price peaked in 1994 at 6,000 US dollars per ton and then dropped to 1,000 US dollars per ton in early 2001, less than half of the production cost. In 2002 the price varied between between 3,250 and 3,350 US dollars per ton.

Antimony mining in Africa

South Africa

Geology
Antimony is hosted in the Early Archean Murchison greenstone belt, making Consolidated Murchison deposit, the oldest known antimony deposit in the world as all the other known deposits are hosted in younger rocks. Stibnite is the main ore mineral, and there is also significant gold mineralization. Zones of gold bearing stibnite are usually contained in quartz-carbonate schists, chert and fuchsite-rich quartz-muscovite schists. The ore can be massive, disseminated or within coarsely-crystalline quartz-carbonate veins. Some of the associated minerals are berthierite, pyrite, arsenopyrite, gersdorffite, ullmanite and visible gold. Approximately two-thirds of the known and exploited gold deposits at Consolidated Murchison were from quartz veins, while the remainder is associated with banded iron-formations.

• Metorex Ltd operates the Consolidated Murchison mine which produces about 4% of world production. Reserves in 2006, proved and probable, were 1,285,446 tonnes grading 1,85% Sb and 2,25 g/t Au.

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe used to produce antimony as a by-product of its gold mining operations.